Vanessa is 36 years old and Stephanie is 6 years old. How many years will it take until Vanessa is only 3 times as old as Stephanie?
Answer: We can use the given information to write down an equation about how many years it will take. Let $y$ be the number of years that it will take. In $y$ years, Vanessa will be $36 + y$ years old and Stephanie will be $6 + y$ years old. At that time, Vanessa will be 3 times as old as Stephanie. Writing this information as an equation, we get: $36 + y = 3 (6 + y)$ Simplifying the right side of this equation, we get: $36 + y = 18 + 3 y$ Solving for $y$ , we get: $2 y = 18$ $y = 9$.